


Hallow Eve

by StarryNightLight50



Category: Arrested Development
Genre: Drama, F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M, One Shot, Other, Parenthood, Some Romance, Swearing, some adult stuff in mentioning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 08:44:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15748269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryNightLight50/pseuds/StarryNightLight50
Summary: Gob goes to talk with Eve. Set somewhere after season 5.Not much romance: Tony in mentioning and Eve and Gob are just sort of friends. Hopefully still worth the read though! Title is just a bad pun, fic has nothing to do with Halloween. ;)





	Hallow Eve

**Author's Note:**

> I really want Gob to have the kind of relationship with Steve that he has never been able to have with his own father. Hopefully more of that on ad in future episodes/seasons, but in the meantime: my attempt at writing a fic.

 

‘’God fucking dammit’’. Eve nearly cut herself while being startled by the doorbell. She was not expecting anyone, in fact, with her son off on some sort of vacation with his new found cousins, she finally had some alone time. Her son had a steady job and could afford a place of his own, but seemed reluctant to leave the nest. She loves her son, don’t get her wrong, but he could be so.damn.clingy. She knew she should be happy to have a kid that wanted to spend so much time with her, but it could be a little much sometimes. So getting this time to herself was precious and she already pitied the poor probably-salesperson at the door that would have to endure her wrath.

 

Putting down the knife on the cutting board, she reminded herself that she had the perfect excuse to keep any conversation short: fixing dinner. Even though dinner was just some bread and spreads. She needed to cleanse her pallet, her son always begging to eat his favorites, and he had some weird ass sense of haute cuisine. One time she even caught him eating uncooked pasta, dipped in mustard. Eve sighed. She had tried to teach him how to cook, but somehow he always ended up setting fire to the kitchen or filling the house with smoke.

 

Another ring on the doorbell. Ooh, this poor sucker really had a death wish. ‘’Coming!’’ she shouted, frowning, heading towards the door.

 

Putting on her best passive-aggressive ‘I’m-pretending-to-be-nice-but-I-really-want-you-to-fuck-off’-face, she opened the door with a dramatic swing.

 

…and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

 

There he was, in white slacks, a purple t-shirt and a leather jacket, wearing flip-flops. He was instantly recognizable, even though the last time she saw him, his hairline wasn’t receding. He oozed an energy of arrogance, but also charm, the combination giving him a false glow of confidence and competence she knew he didn’t have. He was leaning against her doorpost, picking some dirt from under his nails, looking like a stock photo of ‘the cool kid’, if the ‘kid’ was 30 years older.

 

‘’…Gob?’’

 

-‘’You’re mistaken,’’ he said before even looking up, seemingly a knee-jerk reaction as he quickly shook his head a little and laughed. ‘’I mean, I am, I’m looking for Eve Holt?’’

 

This guy. This motherfucking guy. ‘’It’s me, Gob, _I’m_ Eve,’’ she frowned, sighing in exasperation. ‘’What do you want? Steve’s not here.’’ She folded her arms together. He had some nerve coming here after all those years of radio silence. This better be something important, like a big fat check for all the missed child support payments.

 

‘’Oh yeah, of course,’’ he laughed, ‘’You haven’t changed a bit!’’. Eve rolled her eyes. It was somewhat considerate of him to try and be nice, but come on, she definitely didn’t look like a 17 year old anymore. She had dyed and cut her hair, she wore glasses and although she wasn’t overweight, she didn’t have the tiny waist she had when she was 17. Before getting pregnant that is.

 

Eve blocked the doorway with her defensive stance, but this didn’t seem to face Gob as he just squeezed right past her, inviting himself in. ‘’Nice place you got here,’’ he said. Eve turned around to glare daggers at him. ‘’It sure is,’’ she said, voice laced with feigned sweetness, ‘’, but that’s what you get when you buy a Sitwell.’’

 

That finally seemed to get through his thick skull as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, looking her in the eyes for the first time since ringing the doorbell. He tilted his head a bit, obviously trying to figure out her demeanor.

 

‘’You’re mad at me,’’ he concluded.

‘’No shit, Sherlock,’’ Eve replied. Gob’s eyes seemed to turn a bit sad after that.

 

This was so infuriating. Even now, after all the damage he’d done, he still managed to be charming and wear down her defenses a bit. She had forgotten why she had been attracted to him in the first place, blaming it on teenage hormones. But she remembered now. He had the same look on his face now as he had had many times when he was younger. Like he was a lost puppy, trying to figure out the world and just wanting to make people happy while simultaneously peeing all over the rug and shredding all your stuff. Teenage Eve had thought it to be charming, it pulled her in, wanting to save him. But puppies can’t talk and Gob definitely didn’t seem to speak the same language as her, or any other normal human being’s language for that matter. He was in his own world, always had been, and trying to visit him there just left you homeless and confused.

 

‘’Why?’’ Gob asked. Eve blinked, ‘’Why am I mad at you?’’, Eve raised her voice, ‘’Because you knocked me up and then disappeared!’’ She took a few deep breaths. She needed to calm down, there was no point arguing with Gob. He wouldn’t understand and even if he did, the damage had already been done. ‘’Look, Gob, I’m glad you finally show some interest in your son, even though it took you long enough and even though you play fast and loose with his emotions by being the unreliable, emotional-stunted asshole that you are, but he isn’t here and I really don’t want to talk to you.’’ She knew her eyes must be sparking with fire, glaring daggers at him.

 

To his defense, Gob actually seemed a bit guilty. Good. He looked at his feet and his shoulders slumped a bit. ‘’I…I didn’t come here to speak to Steve…I wanted to talk to you, actually.’’ Eve raised an eyebrow. ‘’To me? What, now that Steve’s somewhat in your life you want something? You’re a little too late to be fighting for custody,’’ she smiled bitterly.

 

‘’I know,’’ Gob said, ‘’and I know I still owe you tons of child support. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m….I’m in a relationship right now, a really good one. With kind of a celebrity actually.’’ He stood up straight when he said that, pride buffing his chest. Eve impatiently tapped her foot. ‘’So? Is that what you came to tell me?’’ She would never admit it, but hearing that Gob was in an apparently happy relationship (if the giddy look in his eyes was any implication) was stinging her. That was not the karma she had been hoping for.

 

‘’No, no, what I came to say was….well, I’m getting married. And Tony thinks it’s really important that I try to be a better father and said something about manning fancy’s with you or something,-‘’

‘’-Mending fences,’’ Eve interrupted. ‘’Right,’’ Gob continued, ‘’So here I am, so…are we good?’’ He looked at her expectantly, apparently waiting for a ‘yes’.

 

‘’That’s it?’’ Eve seethed, ‘’That’s it? You think you can come here, after years of not showing your face? After leaving me in a time when I was vulnerable and scared, having to figure out how to raise a son, without any money or degree, while being ostracized by my family and friends? I had to look our son in the eyes and lie to him, tell him he had a mystery father, watching him grow old enough to realize it meant you just didn’t stuck around. Having to compensate for your lack of love, constantly trying to be both parents and then figuring out that he secretly tried to find you? And actually succeeded, only to have all his hopes and dreams of the father figure you were supposed to be shattered, you hurting and neglecting him over and over again?’’ Eve was practically screaming by now. Fuck being calm. She had years of pent up rage for this guy and the least he could do was hear it.

 

She had expected Gob to be either apathetic or maybe look guilty, but looking in his eyes she was surprised to see an anger equaling hers. His shoulders were tense and an accusatory finger pointed in her direction. ‘’I didn’t know about him! You never told me! When I learned about him, he was already so grown up! I never had the chance to be a dad, a good one, playing catch with him and everything. Teaching him about magic and stuff. You took that from me! I know I’m not a perfect guy, but you didn’t even give me a chance to try and be a dad. _I_ had to figure how to fit into his life on _my_ own.’’ With his teeth bared and standing tall, his low voice rumbling, he was actually quite intimidating. Eve felt the kind of fear all women felt when a man was screaming at them: trying to find an escape route, survival instincts kicking in. Even though she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. So she tried to focus on his words and shook her head a bit in surprise.

 

‘’Wait,-what? I did tell you about Steve! I called your house when I found out! Your mom was really nice about it too, said she would talk to you and we would figure it out all together and that I didn’t have to worry. But then I never heard from you or her again and when I tried to contact you in any way, there was security. Then I find out your family payed my parents hush money. You freaking coward, you could’ve faced me instead of letting your parents solve your ‘problems’!’’

 

Gob blinked in surprise and his posture retreated. ‘’What? I never knew anything about that, what are you talking about?’’

 

Eve’s first reaction was to immediately accuse him, because how could he have not known? But she knew him well enough to know that look in his eyes. He was lost again, yes, but he was telling the truth.

 

Realization set in as both parties looked at each other with wide eyes. Gob was the first to react, grinding his teeth, spacing out for a bit while growling ‘mother…’ under his breath.

 

There was a silence in which neither of them knew what to say.

 

‘’..I thought you knew..,’’ Eve finally said.

-‘’I’m sorry,’’ Gob said simultaneously, ‘’I didn’t know…about all this…’’, his shoulders slumping down before letting out a humorless laugh, ‘’I guess I’m the Geobead today, huh?’’

And while Eve had no idea what that meant, she wasn’t about to ask and just nodded a little.

Finally, Eve made up her mind, straightened her shoulders and gestured Gob to follow her.

‘’Come,’’ she said, ‘’I’ll show you around.’’ Gob looked confused, but slowly nodded and followed her.

 

 

 

It was nice, walking down memory lane. Showing Gob Steve’s bedroom, which still had the batman wallpaper from his childhood and Lego’s stuffed under the bed. Showing him the marks on the doorpost, marking each new height as Steve grew up. Telling him about the family dinners, showing him photo albums. Time flew by as she showed Gob the backyard, telling him about little Steve playing catch with her in a Santa suit, a Christmas tradition hold on to way past when Steve stopped believing in Santa, because he never stopped believing in the possibility of his dad around. Gob and her sat on the swings as Eve was wrapping up another story. She had never seen Gob actually listen to something someone else said. It filled her with gratitude that he was this interested in Steve. She really wanted Steve to have the dad he always dreamed of, even if it was Gob.

 

Gob blinked away what Eve suspected to be tears and mouthed an almost silent ‘thank you’, clearly moved by the chance to experience Steve’s childhood through her stories, while being equally devastated to not have had the chance to experience them in person. She smiled softly. They still had a lot of catching up to do about Steve’s childhood, but all of this was already more than she had ever dared to dream.

 

‘’So,’’ she finally sighed, ready to change the subject to a lighter issue, ‘’you’re getting married huh? This Toni gall must be really something to tie you down.’’ It was supposed to lighten the mood, but Gob’s cheeks were burning red as he averted his eyes. ‘’Tony is very special…… _he_ is.’’

 

Eve’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. ‘’He?’’ she asked, surprised. ‘’Yeah,’’ Gob said, ‘’he.’’

‘’Wow!’’, she said, surprise making her sit back while her gaze drifted off in memory, ‘’I never thought…It does explain why you didn’t want me to make any sounds during sex,’’ she decided, ‘’even putting up that weird ass tape with you singing love songs on,’’ she laughed. Gob seemed to get even redder at that. She quickly brushed her words away, while still laughing a little. ‘’Hey, it’s okay, I don’t care, really, I’m just surprised. I’m glad to hear this Tony wants you to get closer to Steve though, I would really like that too. He idolizes you, you know? He’d do anything for your approval.’’ Gob eyebrows turned into a sad frown, spacing out again for a short while. Eve was confused why her remark would unsettle him so, but before she could ask, Gob seemed to shake his sadness off and seemingly came back from his thoughts. ‘’Yeah, that reminds me, I almost forgot. I really want Steve to be my best man at the wedding.  I know I don’t _need_ your approval, but I wanted you to know before I asked him, wanted to let you know about the wedding. You are his mom after all. And hey, you’re invited, of course, if you want.’’ Eve smiled. ‘’That’s great, Steve would love to be your best man I bet. And you know what? Maybe I’ll even attend, but I’m not making any promises.’’ Gob smiled back softly, before his eyes grew wide in excitement. ‘’You should come, we’re going to do a ground breaking magic illusion!’’, he said with pride. Eve laughed, ‘’Dear God, you found someone to put up with your tricks? This must be a special guy to allow you to do magic on your wedding day!’’

‘’Allow?’’ Gob responded, ‘’It was his idea! He’s a magician himself.’’ If this was a cartoon, Eve was sure there would be hearts jumping out of Gob’s eyes. She laughed. ‘’Of course he is. Perfect.’’

 

 

 

It was late as Eve walked Gob to the door. By now she was starving, the bread surely too hard to eat, so she would have to settle for any weird ass combination of food Steve had left in the refrigerator. But all in all, this evening turned out to be way better than hanging on the couch all night watching a ‘To catch a local predator’ marathon.

 

They said their goodnights, Eve even inviting Gob to bring Tony over for dinner at her house sometime. Gob walked out, but as Eve was about to close the door, he turned around again. She looked at him, confused. ‘’What is it Gob?’’ He looked down at his feet, then back into her eyes and asked:

 

‘’So….are we good?’’ He looked kind of nervous. It was a legitimate question, not in the rhetorical tone he had used at the beginning of the evening.

 

Eve couldn’t help but laugh. ‘’Yeah Gob,’’ she said before closing the door, seeing him triumphantly smile, ‘’we’re good.’’

 


End file.
